Bad influence: when social media stars lose their footing

It hasn’t been a great start to the 2018 for social media influencers. In early March, Coca-Cola announced the company terminated its relationship with social media star Claudia Oshry, also known as Girl With No Job, following reports of offensive tweets she posted years ago.

“While we have recently worked with [Oshry], we terminated the relationship as soon as we learned of these disturbing tweets,” a spokesperson from the brand said via email. “Coca-Cola stands for diversity, inclusion, and equality, and we do not condone intolerance or discrimination of any kind.”

The incident is yet another example of the pitfalls of influencer marketing and the importance of brands vetting who they choose to represent them. Other notable influencer mishaps involve beauty blogger Elle Darby – she has 87,000 YouTube subscribers and 76,000 Instagram followers – who tried to “blag a free room” at a Dublin hotel in exchange for publicity. Ironically, the hotel that turned down her request, The White Moose Hotel, has since gone on its own publicity hunt, creating a T-shirt line spotlighting the event and posting its own version of the event.

Also in January, Logan Paul, who has over 15.6 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, faced a huge backlash after filming, editing, and posting a vlog of himself and others touring Japan’s infamous “Suicide Forest,” where they found the corpse of a suicide victim.

While Oshry and Paul were contrite about their bad behavior – Oshry posted a video on Instagram apologing for her anti-Muslim tweets – Darby blames the hotel for the situation.

“Some really disgusting, vile, stupid tweets of mine resurfaced. I need to say how sorry I am. I was a dumb kid. I was 16, I thought I was being funny and cool on Twitter. It’s not. I am not racist. I can’t believe I even have to say that,” she said in the video.

Media outlet Oath has also canceled social media show The Morning Breath, hosted by Oshry and her sister Jackie Oshry, after a Daily Beast story accused them of concealing their relationship with their mother, a controversial author and TV pundit.

BuzzFeed reporter Julia Reinstein tweeted on March 1 that Creative Artists Agency and Brillstein Entertainment Partners confirmed that Claudia Oshry is no longer a client. She signed with CAA late last year.

Claudia Oshry’s Twitter page, @GirlWithNoJob, was deleted and her website also redirected to another page, also on March 1. Oshry has worked with brands including Casper, Subway, and Amazon.

Casper’s comms director, Emma Frane, said via email that the brand does not work regularly with Claudia Oshry.

“We worked with this account on one Instagram post back in June — and we asked that she use the proper #ad disclosure — but nothing beyond that post,” said Frane.

When asked whether Amazon is working with Claudia Oshry, Craig Berman, VP of global communications, said, “I have no idea who this is, or how we may or may not have been working with her. I don’t even know who on the team to send you to.”

Representatives from Subway could not be immediately reached for comment.

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